Female Quakers local to the area organized the meeting along with Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who was not a Quaker, they planned the event during a visit to the area by Philadelphia-based Lucretia Mott. Mott, a Quaker, was famous for her oratorical ability, which was rare for non-Quaker women during an era in which women were often not allowed to speak in public.

The meeting comprised six sessions including a lecture on law, a humorous presentation, and multiple discussions about the role of women in society. Stanton and the Quaker women presented two prepared documents, the Declaration of Sentiments and an accompanying list of resolutions, to be debated and modified before being put forward for signatures. A heated debate sprang up regarding women's right to vote, with many – including Mott – urging the removal of this concept, but Frederick Douglass, who was the convention's sole African American attendee, argued eloquently for its inclusion, and the suffrage resolution was retained. Exactly 100 of approximately 300 attendees signed the document, mostly women.

The convention was seen by some of its contemporaries, including featured speaker Mott, as one important step among many others in the continuing effort by women to gain for themselves a greater proportion of social, civil and moral rights,[4] while it was viewed by others as a revolutionary beginning to the struggle by women for complete equality with men. Stanton considered the Seneca Falls Convention to be the beginning of the women's rights movement, an opinion that was echoed in the History of Woman Suffrage, which Stanton co-wrote.[4]

The convention's Declaration of Sentiments became "the single most important factor in spreading news of the women's rights movement around the country in 1848 and into the future", according to Judith Wellman, a historian of the convention.[5] By the time of the National Women's Rights Convention of 1851, the issue of women's right to vote had become a central tenet of the United States women's rights movement.[6] These conventions became annual events until the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861.

In the decades leading up to 1848, a small number of women began to push against restrictions imposed upon them by society. A few men aided in this effort; in 1831, Reverend Charles Grandison Finney began allowing women to pray aloud in gatherings of men and women.[7] The Second Great Awakening was challenging women's traditional roles in religion. Recalling the era in 1870, Paulina Wright Davis set Finney's decision as the beginning of the American women's reform movement.[7]

Starting in 1832, abolitionist and journalist William Lloyd Garrison organized anti-slavery associations which encouraged the full participation of women. Garrison's ideas were not welcomed by a majority of other abolitionists, and those unwilling to include women split from him to form other abolitionist societies.

A few women began to gain fame as writers and speakers on the subject of abolition; in the 1830s, Lydia Maria Child wrote to encourage women to write a will,[8] and Frances Wright wrote books on women's rights and social reform. The Grimké sisters published their views against slavery in the late 1830s, and they began speaking to mixed gatherings of men and women for Garrison's American Anti-Slavery Society, as did Abby Kelley. Although these women lectured primarily on the evils of slavery, the fact that a woman was speaking in public was itself a noteworthy stand for the cause of women's rights. Ernestine Rose began lecturing in 1836 to groups of women on the subject of the "Science of Government" which included the enfranchisement of women.[9]

In 1840, at the urging of Garrison and Wendell Phillips, Lucretia Coffin Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton traveled with their husbands and a dozen other American male and female abolitionists to London for the first World's Anti-Slavery Convention, with the expectation that a motion put forward by Phillips to include women's participation in the convention would be controversial. In London, the proposal was rebuffed after a full day of debate; the women were allowed to listen from the gallery but not allowed to speak or vote. Mott and Stanton became friends in London and on the return voyage, and together planned to organize their own convention to further the cause of women's rights, separate from abolition concerns; in 1842 Thomas M'Clintock and his wife Mary Ann became founding members of the Western New York Anti-Slavery Society and helped write its constitution. When he moved to Rochester in 1847, Frederick Douglass joined Amy and Isaac Post and the M'Clintocks in this Rochester-based chapter of the American Anti-Slavery Society.[10]

In 1839 in Boston, Margaret Fuller began hosting conversations, akin to French salons, among women interested in discussing the "great questions" facing their sex.[11]Sophia Ripley was one of the participants. In 1845, Fuller published The Great Lawsuit, asking women to claim themselves as self-dependent.

In the 1840s, women in America were reaching out for greater control of their lives. Husbands and fathers directed the lives of women, and many doors were closed to female participation.[12] State statutes and common law prohibited women from inheriting property, signing contracts, serving on juries and voting in elections. Women's prospects in employment were dim: they could expect only to gain a very few service-related jobs and were paid about half of what men were paid for the same work;[12] in Massachusetts, Brook Farm was founded by Sophia Ripley and her husband George Ripley in 1841 as an attempt to find a way in which men and women could work together, with women receiving the same compensation as men. The experiment failed.[13]

In the fall of 1841, Elizabeth Cady Stanton gave her first public speech, on the subject of the Temperance movement, in front of 100 women in Seneca Falls, she wrote to her friend Elizabeth J. Neal that she moved both the audience and herself to tears, saying "I infused into my speech an Homeopathic dose of woman's rights, as I take good care to do in many private conversations."[14]

Lucretia Mott met with Elizabeth Cady Stanton in Boston in 1842, and discussed again the possibility of a woman's rights convention,[10] they talked once more in 1847, prior to Stanton moving from Boston to Seneca Falls.[15]

Women's groups led by Lucretia Mott and Paulina Wright Davis held public meetings in Philadelphia beginning in 1846.[7] A wide circle of abolitionists friendly to women's rights began in 1847 to discuss the possibility of holding a convention wholly devoted to women's rights;[7] in October 1847, Lucy Stone gave her first public speech on the subject of women's rights, entitled The Province of Women, at her brother Bowman Stone's church in Gardner, Massachusetts.[16]

In March 1848, Garrison, the Motts, Abby Kelley Foster, Stephen Symonds Foster and others hosted an Anti-Sabbath meeting in Boston, to work toward the elimination of laws that apply only to Sunday, and to gain for the laborer more time away from toil than just one day of rest per week. Lucretia Mott and two other women were active within the executive committee,[17] and Mott spoke to the assemblage. Lucretia Mott raised questions about the validity of blindly following religious and social tradition.[18]

On April 7, 1848, in response to a citizen's petition, the New York State Assembly passed the Married Woman's Property Act, giving women the right to retain property they brought into a marriage, as well as property they acquired during the marriage. Creditors could not seize a wife's property to pay a husband's debts.[19] Leading up to the passage of this law, in 1846, supporters issued a pamphlet, probably authored by Judge John Fine,[20] which relied on its readers' familiarity with the United States Declaration of Independence to demand "That all are created free and equal ...",[20] and that this idea should apply equally to the sexes. "Women, as well as men, are entitled to the full enjoyment of its practical blessings".[20] A group of 44 married women of western New York wrote to the Assembly in March 1848, saying "your Declaration of Independence declares, that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed. And as women have never consented to, been represented in, or recognized by this government, it is evident that in justice no allegiance can be claimed from them ... Our numerous and yearly petitions for this most desirable object having been disregarded, we now ask your august body, to abolish all laws which hold married women more accountable for their acts than infants, idiots, and lunatics."[20]

The General Assembly in Pennsylvania passed a similar married woman's property law a few weeks later, one which Lucretia Mott and others had championed. These progressive state laws were seen by American women as a sign of new hope for women's rights.[19]

On June 2, 1848 in Rochester, New York, Gerrit Smith was nominated as the Liberty Party's presidential candidate.[21] Smith was Elizabeth Cady Stanton's first cousin, and the two enjoyed debating and discussing political and social issues with each other whenever he came to visit,[21] at the National Liberty Convention, held June 14–15 in Buffalo, New York, Smith gave a major address,[22] including in his speech a demand for "universal suffrage in its broadest sense, females as well as males being entitled to vote."[21] The delegates approved a passage in their party platform addressing votes for women: "Neither here, nor in any other part of the world, is the right of suffrage allowed to extend beyond one of the sexes, this universal exclusion of woman ... argues, conclusively, that, not as yet, is there one nation so far emerged from barbarism, and so far practically Christian, as to permit woman to rise up to the one level of the human family."[21] At this convention, five votes were placed calling for Lucretia Mott to be Smith's vice-president—the first time in the United States that a woman was suggested for federal executive office.[21]

Many members of the Religious Society of Friends, known as Quakers, made their homes in western New York state, near Seneca Falls. A particularly progressive branch lived in and around Waterloo in Seneca County, New York, these Quakers strove for marital relationships in which men and women worked and lived in equality.[12]

The M'Clintocks came to Waterloo from a Quaker community in Philadelphia, they rented property from Richard P. Hunt, a wealthy Quaker and businessman,[12] the M'Clintock and Hunt families opposed slavery; both participated in the free produce movement, and their houses served as stations on the Underground Railroad.[12]

Though women Friends had since the 1660s publicly preached, written and led, and traditional Quaker tenets held that men and women were equals, Quaker women met separately from the men to consider and decide a congregation's business. By the 1840s, some Hicksite Quakers determined to bring women and men together in their business meetings as an expression of their spiritual equality;[12] in June 1848, approximately 200 Hicksites, including the Hunts and the M'Clintocks, formed an even more radical Quaker group, known as the Yearly Meeting of Congregational Friends, or Progressive Friends. The Progressive Friends intended to further elevate the influence of women in affairs of the faith, they introduced joint business meetings of men and women, giving women an equal voice.[12]

Lucretia and James Mott visited central and western New York in the summer of 1848 for a number of reasons, including visiting the Cattaraugus Reservation of the Seneca Nation and former slaves living in the province of Ontario, Canada. Mott was present at the meeting in which the Progressive Friends left the Hicksite Quakers, they also visited Lucretia's sister Martha Coffin Wright in Auburn, NY, where Mott also preached to prisoners at the Auburn State Penitentiary. Lucretia Mott's skill and fame as an orator drew crowds wherever she went.[23]

After Quaker worship on Sunday July 9, 1848, Lucretia Coffin Mott joined Mary Ann M'Clintock, Martha Coffin Wright (Mott's witty sister, several months pregnant),[24] Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Jane Hunt for tea at the Hunt home in Waterloo, the two eldest M'Clintock daughters, Elizabeth and Mary Ann, Jr. may have accompanied their mother.[25] Jane Hunt had given birth two weeks earlier, and was tending the baby at home, over tea, Stanton, the only non-Quaker present, vented a lifetime's worth of pent-up frustration, her "long-accumulating discontent"[26] about women's subservient place in society. The five women decided to hold a women's rights convention in the immediate future, while the Motts were still in the area,[2] and drew up an announcement to run in the Seneca County Courier, the announcement began with these words: "WOMAN'S RIGHTS CONVENTION.—A Convention to discuss the social, civil, and religious condition and rights of woman".[2] The notice specified that only women were invited to the first day's meetings on July 19, but both women and men could attend on the second day to hear Lucretia Mott speak, among others,[2] on July 11, the announcement first appeared, giving readers just eight days' notice until the first day of convention.[27] Other papers such as Douglass's North Star picked up the notice, printing it on July 14,[2] the meeting place was to be the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel[28] in Seneca Falls. Built by a congregation of abolitionists and financed in part by Richard Hunt,[12] the chapel had been the scene of many reform lectures, and was considered the only large building in the area that would open its doors to a women's rights convention.[2]

At their home in Waterloo on Sunday, July 16, the M'Clintocks hosted a smaller planning session for the convention. Mary Ann M'Clintock and her eldest daughters, Elizabeth and Mary Ann, Jr., discussed with Stanton the makeup of the resolutions that would be presented to the convention for approval. Each woman made certain her concerns were appropriately represented among the ten resolutions that they composed.[29] Taken together, the resolutions demanded that women should have equality in the family, education, jobs, religion, and morals.[20] One of the M'Clintock women selected the Declaration of Independence from 1776 as a model for the declaration they wanted to make at their convention, the Declaration of Sentiments was then drafted in the parlor on a round, three-legged, mahogany tea table.[30] Stanton changed a few words of the Declaration of Independence to make it appropriate for a statement by women, replacing "The history of the present King of Great Britain" with "The history of mankind" as the basis for "usurpations on the part of man toward woman."[31] The women added the phrase "and women" to make "... all men and women are created equal ..."[31] A list of grievances was composed to form the second part of the Declaration.[32]

Between July 16 and July 19, at home on her own writing desk, Stanton edited the grievances and resolutions. Henry Brewster Stanton, a lawyer, politician and Stanton's husband, helped substantiate the document by locating "extracts from laws bearing unjustly against woman's property interests."[32] On her own, Stanton added a more radical point to the list of grievances and to the resolutions: the issue of women's voting rights.[33] To the grievances, she added "He has never permitted her to exercise her inalienable right to the elective franchise", and to the Sentiments, she added a line about man depriving woman of "the elective franchise, thereby leaving her without representation in the halls of legislation..."[33] Stanton then copied the Declaration and resolutions into final draft form for presentation at the meeting. When he saw the addition of woman suffrage, Henry Stanton warned his wife "you will turn the proceedings into a farce."[34] He, like most men of his day, was not in favor of women gaining voting rights, because he intended to run for elective office, he left Seneca Falls to avoid being connected with a convention promoting such an unpopular cause.[35] Elizabeth Cady Stanton asked her sister Harriet Cady Eaton to accompany her; Eaton brought her young son Daniel.[36]

On July 16, Lucretia Mott sent a note to Stanton apologizing in advance for James Mott not being able to attend the first day, as he was feeling "quite unwell".[37] Lucretia Mott wrote to say she would bring her sister, Martha Wright, and that the two women would participate in both days of the convention.[38]

On July 19, 1848, the morning of the first day of convention, the organizing committee arrived at the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel shortly before ten o'clock on a hot, sunny day to find a crowd gathered outside and the church doors locked—an overlooked detail.[36] Stanton's young nephew Daniel was lifted through an open window so that he could unbar the doors from the inside. Even though the first session had been announced as being exclusively for women, some young children of both sexes had been brought by their mothers, and about 40 men were there expecting to attend, the men were not turned away, but were asked to remain silent. Mary Ann M'Clintock, Jr., 26 years old, was appointed secretary, to take notes.[36]

Starting at 11 o'clock, Elizabeth Cady Stanton spoke first, exhorting each woman in the audience to accept responsibility for her own life, and to "understand the height, the depth, the length, and the breadth of her own degradation."[36]Lucretia Mott then spoke, encouraging all to take up the cause. Stanton read the Declaration of Sentiments in its entirety, then re-read each paragraph so that it could be discussed at length, and changes incorporated, the question of whether men's signatures would be sought for the Declaration was discussed, with the vote looking favorable for including men, but the motion was tabled until the following day when men themselves could participate.[39] The first session adjourned at 2:30 p.m.[40]

After a pause for refreshment in the 90° heat,[39] an afternoon session began with Stanton and then Mott addressing the audience, the Declaration of Sentiments was read again and more changes were made to it. The resolutions, now numbering eleven with Stanton's addition of women's suffrage, were read aloud and discussed. Lucretia Mott read a humorous newspaper piece written by her sister Martha Wright in which Wright questioned why, after an overworked mother completed the myriad daily tasks that were required of her but not of her husband, she was the one upon whom written advice was "so lavishly bestowed."[41] Twenty-seven-year-old Elizabeth W. M'Clintock then delivered a speech, and the first day's business was called to a close.

In the evening, the meeting was opened to all persons, and Lucretia Mott addressed a large audience,[42] she spoke of the progress of other reform movements and so framed for her listeners the social and moral context for the struggle for women's rights. She asked the men present to help women gain the equality they deserved,[41] the editor of the National Reformer, a paper in Auburn, New York, reported that Mott's extemporaneous evening speech was "one of the most eloquent, logical, and philosophical discourses which we ever listened to."[42]

A larger crowd attended on the second day, including more men. Amelia Bloomer arrived late and took a seat in the upstairs gallery, there being none left in the main seating area. Quaker James Mott was well enough to attend, and he chaired the morning meeting; it was still too radical a concept that a woman serve as chair in front of both men and women.[41]

After Mott opened the meeting, the minutes of the previous day were read, and Stanton presented the Declaration of Sentiments; in regard to the grievance "He has taken from her all right in property, even to the wages she earns," Assemblyman Ansel Bascom stood to say that he had recently been at the New York State Assembly which passed the Married Woman's Property Act. Bascom spoke at length about the property rights it secured for married women, including property acquired after marriage.[41] Further discussion of the Declaration ensued, including comments by Frederick Douglass, Thomas and Mary Ann M'Clintock, and Amy Post; the document was adopted unanimously.[43] The question of men's signatures was solved by having two sections of signatures, one for women followed by one for men. One hundred of the 300[44] present signed the Declaration of Sentiments, including 68 women and 32 men.[45] Amelia Bloomer was one of the participants who did not endorse the Declaration; she was focused at that time on the temperance movement.[46] Ansel Bascom was the most conspicuous attendee who chose not to sign the Declaration,[47] the National Reformer reported that those in the audience who evidently regarded the Declaration as "too bold and ultra", including the lawyers known to be opposed to the equal rights of women, "failed to call out any opposition, except in a neighboring BAR-ROOM."[42]

At the afternoon session, the eleven resolutions were read again, and each one was voted on individually, the only one that was materially questioned was the ninth, the one Stanton had added regarding women's right to vote. It read:

Resolved, that it is the duty of the women of this country to secure to themselves their sacred right to the elective franchise.[48]

Those who opposed this resolution argued that its presence would cause the other, more rational resolutions to lose support.[49] Others argued that only the social, civil and religious rights of women should be addressed, not the political rights.[34] James and Lucretia Mott were against the resolution; Lucretia said to Stanton, "Why Lizzie, thee will make us ridiculous."[34] Stanton defended the concept of woman suffrage, saying women would then be able to affect future legislation and gain further rights.[34] Frederick Douglass, the only African American at the meeting,[50] stood and spoke eloquently in favor; he said that he could not accept the right to vote himself as a black man if woman could not also claim that right. Douglass projected that the world would be a better place if women were involved in the political sphere. "In this denial of the right to participate in government, not merely the degradation of woman and the perpetuation of a great injustice happens, but the maiming and repudiation of one-half of the moral and intellectual power of the government of the world."[51] Douglass's powerful words rang true with many in attendance, and the resolution passed by a large majority.[43] Lucretia Mott spoke to end the session.[43]

Quaker Thomas M'Clintock served as chair for the evening session, opening it at half-past seven,[43] the minutes were read, then Stanton spoke in defense of the many severe accusations brought against the much-abused "Lords of Creation."[43] Following Stanton, Thomas M'Clintock read several passages from Sir William Blackstone's laws, to expose for the audience the basis of woman's current legal condition of servitude to man.[52] Lucretia Mott stood to offer another resolution: "Resolved, That the speedy success of our cause depends upon the zealous and untiring efforts of both men and women, for the overthrow of the monopoly of the pulpit, and for the securing to woman an equal participation with men in the various trades, professions and commerce."[53] This, the twelfth resolution, passed.

Mary Ann M'Clintock, Jr. spoke briefly, calling upon woman to arouse from her lethargy and be true to herself and her God. Douglass again rose to speak in support of the cause of woman.[53] Lucretia Mott spoke for an hour with one of her "most beautiful and spiritual appeals",[53] although Lucretia Mott's reputation as a speaker drew the audience, Mott recognized Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Mary Ann M'Clintock as the "chief planners and architects" of the convention.[12] To close the meeting, a committee was appointed to edit and publish the convention proceedings, with Amy Post, Eunice Newton Foote, Mary Ann M'Clintock, Jr., Elizabeth W. M'Clintock and Stanton serving.[12]

Local newspapers printed reports of the convention, some positive, others not, the National Reformer reported that the convention "forms an era in the progress of the age; it being the first convention of the kind ever held, and one whose influence shall not cease until woman is guaranteed all the rights now enjoyed by the other half of creation—Social, Civil and POLITICAL."[42] The Oneida Whig did not approve of the convention, writing of the Declaration: "This bolt is the most shocking and unnatural incident ever recorded in the history of womanity. If our ladies will insist on voting and legislating, where, gentleman, will be our dinners and our elbows? Where our domestic firesides and the holes in our stockings?"[54]

Soon, newspapers across the country picked up the story. Reactions varied widely; in Massachusetts, the Lowell Courier published its opinion that, with women's equality, "the lords must wash the dishes, scour up, be put to the tub, handle the broom, darn stockings."[20] In St. Louis, Missouri, the Daily Reveille trumpeted that "the flag of independence has been hoisted for the second time on this side of the Atlantic."[20]Horace Greeley in the New York Tribune wrote "When a sincere republican is asked to say in sober earnest what adequate reason he can give, for refusing the demand of women to an equal participation with men in political rights, he must answer, None at all. However unwise and mistaken the demand, it is but the assertion of a natural right, and such must be conceded."[20]

Some of the ministers heading congregations in the area attended the Seneca Falls Convention, but none spoke out during the sessions, not even when comments from the floor were invited, on Sunday, July 23, many who had attended, and more who had not, attacked the Convention, the Declaration of Sentiments, and the resolutions. Women in the congregations reported to Stanton, who saw the actions of the ministers as cowardly; in their congregations, no one would be allowed to reply.[55]

Signers of the Declaration of Sentiments hoped for "a series of Conventions, embracing every part of the country" to follow their own meeting, because of the fame and drawing power of Lucretia Mott, who would not be staying in the Upstate New York area for much longer, some of the participants at Seneca Falls organized the Rochester Women's Rights Convention two weeks later in Rochester, New York with Lucretia Mott as its featured speaker. Unlike the Seneca Falls convention, the Rochester convention took the controversial step of electing a woman, Abigail Bush, as its presiding officer; in the next two years, "the infancy ... of the movement",[56] other local and state women's rights conventions were called in Ohio, Indiana, and Pennsylvania.[57]

Charlotte Woodward, alone among all 100 signers, was the only one still alive in 1920 when the Nineteenth Amendment passed. Woodward was not well enough to vote herself.[58]

In 1870, Paulina Wright Davis authored a history of the antebellum women's rights movement, The History of the National Woman's Rights Movement, and received approval of her account from many of the involved suffragists including Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.[7] Davis' version gave the Seneca Falls meeting in 1848 a minor role, equivalent to other local meetings that had been held by women's groups in the late 1840s. Davis set the beginning of the national and international women's rights movement at Worcester, Massachusetts in 1850, at the National Women's Rights Convention when women from many states were invited, the influence of which was felt across the continent and in Great Britain.[7] Stanton seemed to agree; in an address to the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) convention in 1870, on the subject of the women's rights movement, she said "The movement in England, as in America, may be dated from the first National Convention, held at Worcester, Mass., October, 1850."[60]

In 1876, in the spirit of the nation's centennial celebrations, Stanton and Susan B. Anthony decided to write a more expansive history of the women's rights movement. They invited Lucy Stone to help, but Stone declined to be part of the project; she was of the opinion that Stanton and Anthony would not fairly portray the divisive split between NWSA and American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA). Stanton and Anthony wrote without her and, in 1881, they published the first volume of the History of Woman Suffrage, and placed themselves at each of its most important events, marginalizing Stone's contribution.[61]

According to Lisa Tetrault, a professor of women's history, the Seneca Falls Convention was central to their rendition of the movement's history. Neither Stanton nor Anthony had been at the 1850 convention, which was associated with their rivals. Stanton, however, had played a key role at the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848, at which Stone had not been present; in the early 1870s, Stanton and Anthony began to present Seneca Falls as the beginning of the women's rights movement, an origin story that downplayed Stone's role. Pointing out that the women's rights movement could be said to have begun even earlier than Seneca Falls, Tetrault said the History of Woman Suffrage dealt with these earlier events relatively briefly in its first three chapters, the first of which is titled "Preceding Causes."[62] In the volume, Stanton did not mention the Liberty Party's plank on woman suffrage pre-dating the Seneca Falls Convention by a month, and she did not describe the Worcester National Women's Rights Convention, organized by Stone and Davis in 1850, as the beginning of the women's rights movement. Rather, Stanton named the 1840 Anti-Slavery Convention in London as the birth of the "movement for woman's suffrage, in both England and America",[7] she positioned the Seneca Falls meeting as her own political debut, and characterized it as the beginning of the women's rights movement,[15] calling it "the greatest movement for human liberty recorded on the pages of history—a demand for freedom to one-half the entire race."[4] Stanton worked to enshrine the Declaration of Sentiments as a foundational treatise in a number of ways, not the least of which was by imbuing the small, three-legged tea table upon which the first draft of it was composed an importance similar to that of Thomas Jefferson's desk upon which he wrote the Declaration of Independence.[15] The M'Clintocks gave Stanton the table, then Stanton gave it to Susan B. Anthony on the occasion of her 80th birthday,[63] though Anthony had no part in the Seneca Falls meeting.[26] In keeping with Stanton's promotion of the table as an iconic relic, women's rights activists put it in a place of honor at the head of the casket at the funeral of Susan B. Anthony on March 14, 1906.[64] Subsequently, it was displayed prominently on the stage at each of the most important suffrage meetings until 1920,[63] even though the grievance and resolution about woman suffrage was not written on it,[32] the table is kept at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.[65]

Lucretia Mott reflected in August 1848 upon the two women's rights conventions in which she had participated that summer, and assessed them no greater than other projects and missions she was involved with, she wrote that the two gatherings were "greatly encouraging; and give hope that this long neglected subject will soon begin to receive the attention that its importance demands."[4]

Historian Gerda Lerner has pointed out that religious ideas provided a fundamental source for the Declaration of Sentiments. Most of the women attending the convention were active in Quaker or evangelical Methodist movements, the document itself drew from writings by the evangelical Quaker Sarah Grimké to make biblical claims that God had created woman equal to man and that man had usurped God's authority by establishing "absolute tyranny" over woman.[66] According to author Jami Carlacio, Grimké's writings opened the public's eyes to ideas like women's rights, and for the first time they were willing to question conventional notions about the subordination of women.[67]

^Dumenil, 2012, p. 56. Many scholarly sources describe Seneca Falls as "the first women's rights convention", including Wellman, 2004 (the book's title itself include those words); Isenberg, 1998, p. 1; and McMillen, 2008, p. 115, and no scholarly source describes an earlier meeting as "women's rights convention". Seneca Falls is given that recognition because it was the first that was organized by women explicitly for the purpose of discussing women's rights as such, it was not, however, the first convention at which the topic of women's rights was among the topics that were discussed.

^ abcdeWellman, 2004, p. 176. Judith Wellman offers the theory that Gerrit Smith and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, during a possible visit by Smith to Seneca Falls between June 2 and June 14, 1848, challenged or encouraged each other to introduce women's voting rights in their separate political and social spheres, as both subsequently did so, Smith taking the first shot.

^University of Rochester. River Campus Libraries. Report of The Woman's Rights Convention Rochester, 1848 , "We presented ourselves there before them as an oppressed class, with trembling frames and faltering tongues, and we did not expect to be able to speak so as to be heard by all at first, but she trusted we should have the sympathy of the audience, and that they would bear with our weaknesses now in the infancy as we were of the movement, that our trust in the omnipotency of Right was our only faith that we should succeed."—Abigail Bush, August 2, 1848. Retrieved on April 28, 2009.

^Tetrault (2014), pp. 71, 121, 137. Tetrault says she describes the Seneca Falls story as a "myth" not to indicate that it is false but in the technical sense of "a venerated and celebrated story used to give meaning to the world." See Tetrault (2014), p. 5

1.
Feminism
–
Feminism is a range of political movements, ideologies, and social movements that share a common goal, to define and advance political, economic, personal, and social rights for women. This includes seeking to establish opportunities for women in education. Feminists have also worked to promote autonomy and integrity, and to protect women and girls from rape, sexual harassment. Numerous feminist movements and ideologies have developed over the years and represent different viewpoints, some forms of feminism have been criticized for taking into account only white, middle class, and educated perspectives. This criticism led to the creation of specific or multicultural forms of feminism, including black feminism. Charles Fourier, a Utopian Socialist and French philosopher, is credited with having coined the word féminisme in 1837, depending on the historical moment, culture and country, feminists around the world have had different causes and goals. Most western feminist historians assert that all working to obtain womens rights should be considered feminist movements. Other historians assert that the term should be limited to the modern feminist movement and those historians use the label protofeminist to describe earlier movements. The history of the modern western feminist movements is divided into three waves, each wave dealt with different aspects of the same feminist issues. The first wave comprised womens suffrage movements of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the second wave was associated with the ideas and actions of the womens liberation movement beginning in the 1960s. The second wave campaigned for legal and social equality for women, the third wave is a continuation of, and a reaction to, the perceived failures of second-wave feminism, beginning in the 1990s. First-wave feminism was a period of activity during the 19th century, in the UK and US, it focused on the promotion of equal contract, marriage, parenting, and property rights for women. This was followed by Australia granting female suffrage in 1902, in 1928 this was extended to all women over 21. In the U. S. notable leaders of this movement included Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, anthony, who each campaigned for the abolition of slavery prior to championing womens right to vote. These women were influenced by the Quaker theology of spiritual equality, in the United States, first-wave feminism is considered to have ended with the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, granting women the right to vote in all states. During the late Qing period and reform movements such as the Hundred Days Reform, Chinese feminists called for womens liberation from traditional roles, later, the Chinese Communist Party created projects aimed at integrating women into the workforce, and claimed that the revolution had successfully achieved womens liberation. According to Nawar al-Hassan Golley, Arab feminism was closely connected with Arab nationalism, in 1899, Qasim Amin, considered the father of Arab feminism, wrote The Liberation of Women, which argued for legal and social reforms for women. He drew links between womens position in Egyptian society and nationalism, leading to the development of Cairo University, in 1923 Hoda Shaarawi founded the Egyptian Feminist Union, became its president and a symbol of the Arab womens rights movement

2.
Woman
–
A woman is a female human. The term woman is usually reserved for an adult, with the girl being the usual term for a female child or adolescent. The term woman is sometimes used to identify a female human, regardless of age. Women with typical genetic development are usually capable of giving birth from puberty until menopause, the spelling of woman in English has progressed over the past millennium from wīfmann to wīmmann to wumman, and finally, the modern spelling woman. In Old English, wīfmann meant female human, whereas wēr meant male human, the medial labial consonants f and m in wīfmann coalesced into the modern form woman, while the initial element, which meant female, underwent semantic narrowing to the sense of a married woman. It is a misconception that the term woman is etymologically connected to womb. Womb is actually from the Old English word wambe meaning stomach, the symbol for the planet Venus is the sign also used in biology for the female sex. It is a representation of the goddess Venuss hand-mirror or an abstract symbol for the goddess. The Venus symbol also represented femininity, and in ancient alchemy stood for copper, alchemists constructed the symbol from a circle above an equilateral cross. Womanhood is the period in a life after she has passed through childhood and adolescence. The word woman can be used generally, to any female human or specifically. The word girl originally meant young person of either sex in English, in particular, previously common terms such as office girl are no longer widely used. Referring to a female human as a woman may, in such a culture, imply that she is sexually experienced. There are various words used to refer to the quality of being a woman, menarche, the onset of menstruation, occurs on average at age 12-13. The earliest women whose names are known through archaeology include, Neithhotep, the wife of Narmer, merneith, consort and regent of ancient Egypt during the first dynasty. She may have been ruler of Egypt in her own right, merit-Ptah, also lived in Egypt and is the earliest known female physician and scientist. Peseshet, a physician in Ancient Egypt, puabi, or Shubad – queen of Ur whose tomb was discovered with many expensive artifacts. Other known pre-Sargonic queens of Ur include Ashusikildigir, Ninbanda, kugbau, a taverness from Kish chosen by the Nippur priesthood to become hegemonic ruler of Sumer, and in later ages deified as Kubaba

3.
Girl
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A girl is a female human from birth through childhood and adolescence to attainment of adulthood when she becomes a woman. The term girl may also be used to mean a young woman, the English word girl first appeared during the Middle Ages between 1250 and 1300 CE and came from the Anglo-Saxon word gerle. The Anglo-Saxon word gerela meaning dress or clothing item also seems to have used as a metonym in some sense. Girl has meant any young unmarried woman since about 1530 and its first noted meaning for sweetheart is 1648. The earliest known appearance of girl-friend is in 1892 and girl next door, meant as a female or young woman with a kind of wholesome appeal. The word girl is sometimes used to refer to an adult female and this usage may be considered derogatory or disrespectful in professional or other formal contexts, just as the term boy can be considered disparaging when applied to an adult man. Hence, this usage is often deprecative and it can also be used deprecatively when used to discriminate against children. In casual context, the word has positive uses, as evidenced by its use in titles of popular music. It has been used playfully for people acting in a fashion or as a way of unifying women of all ages on the basis of their once having been girls. These positive uses mean gender rather than age, the status of girls throughout world history is closely related to the status of women in any culture. Where women enjoy an equal status with men, girls benefit from greater attention to their needs. In Ancient Egypt, the princess Neferure grew up under the reign of her mother, the woman Pharaoh Hatshepsut, women in Ancient Egypt had a relatively high status in society, and as the daughter of the pharaoh, Neferura was provided with the best education possible. Her tutors were the most trusted advisors of her mother and she grew up to take on an important role by taking on the duties of a queen while her mother was pharaoh. Despite the fact women and men had a great deal of equality in Ancient Egypt. For this reason, girls and boys education differed, boys could attend formal schools to learn how to read, write, and do math, while girls would be educated at home to learn the occupations of their mothers. Some women did become literate and were scholars, however, such as Hypatia, girls formal education has traditionally been considered far less important than that of boys. In Europe, exceptions were rare before the press and the Reformation made literacy more widespread. One notable exception to the neglect of girls literacy is Queen Elizabeth I

4.
Femininity
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Femininity is a set of attributes, behaviors, and roles generally associated with girls and women. Femininity is socially constructed, but made up of both socially-defined and biologically-created factors and this makes it distinct from the definition of the biological female sex, as both males and females can exhibit feminine traits. People who exhibit a combination of masculine and feminine characteristics are considered androgynous, and feminist philosophers have argued that gender ambiguity may blur gender classification. In some non-English speaking cultures, certain concepts or inanimate objects are considered feminine or masculine, tara Williams has suggested that modern notions of femininity in English speaking society began during the English medieval period at the time of the bubonic plague in the 1300s. Women in the Early Middle Ages were referred to simply within their traditional roles of maiden, wife, after the Black Death in England wiped out approximately half the population, traditional gender roles of wife and mother changed, and opportunities opened up for women in society. Prudence Allen has traced how the concept of woman changed during this period, the words femininity and womanhood are first recorded in Chaucer around 1380. Girls, second-wave feminists said, were then socialized with toys, games, television and school into conforming to feminine values, femininity is sometimes linked with sexual objectification and sexual appeal. Sexual passiveness, or sexual receptivity, is considered feminine while sexual assertiveness. Some queer theorists and other postmodernists, however, have rejected the sex /gender dichotomy as a dangerous simplification, an ongoing debate with regards to sex and psychology concerns the extent to which gender identity and gender-specific behavior is due to socialization versus inborn factors. According to Diane F. Halpern, both play a role, but the relative importance of each must still be investigated. The nature versus nurture question, for example, is debated and is continually revitalized by new research findings. Some hold that feminine identity is partly a given and partly a goal to be sought, in 1959, researchers such as John Money and Anke Erhardt proposed the prenatal hormone theory. This theory, however, has been criticized on theoretical and empirical grounds, Money also argued that gender identity is formed during a childs first three years. In Carl Jungs school of psychology, the anima and animus are the two primary anthropomorphic archetypes of the unconscious mind. The anima and animus are described by Jung as elements of his theory of the collective unconscious, a domain of the unconscious that transcends the personal psyche. In the unconscious of the male, it finds expression as a feminine inner personality, anima, equivalently, in the unconscious of the female, it is expressed as a masculine inner personality, animus. In Western cultures, the ideal of feminine appearance has traditionally included long, flowing hair, clear skin, a narrow waist, in other cultures, however, expectations are different. For example, in parts of the world, underarm hair is not considered unfeminine

5.
History of feminism
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The history of feminism is the chronological narrative of the movements and ideologies aimed at equal rights for women. Other historians limit the term to the modern feminist movement and its progeny, modern Western feminist history is split into three time periods, or waves, each with slightly different aims based on prior progress. First-wave feminism of the 19th and early 20th centuries focuses on overturning legal inequalities, second-wave feminism broadened debate to include cultural inequalities, gender norms, and the role of women in society. Third-wave feminism refers to diverse strains of feminist activity, seen as both a continuation of the wave and a response to its perceived failures. People and activists who discuss or advance womens equality prior to the existence of the feminist movement are sometimes labeled as protofeminist, some scholars, however, criticize this terms usage. Around 24 centuries ago, Plato, according to Elaine Hoffman Baruch, for the political and sexual equality of women. One of the most important 17th-century feminist writers in the English language was Margaret Cavendish, the Age of Enlightenment was characterized by secular intellectual reasoning and a flowering of philosophical writing. Many Enlightenment philosophers defended the rights of women, including Jeremy Bentham, Marquis de Condorcet, other important writers of the time that expressed feminist views included Abigail Adams, Catharine Macaulay, and Hedvig Charlotta Nordenflycht. Bentham spoke for complete equality between sexes including the rights to vote and to participate in government and he opposed the asymmetrical sexual moral standards between men and women. In his Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation, Bentham strongly condemned many countries common practice to deny womens rights due to allegedly inferior minds, Bentham gave many examples of able female regents. Nicolas de Condorcet was a mathematician, classical liberal politician, leading French Revolutionary, republican and he was also a fierce defender of human rights, including the equality of women and the abolition of slavery, unusual for the 1780s. He advocated for suffrage in the new government in 1790 with De ladmission des femmes au droit de cité. This was another plea for the French Revolutionary government to recognize the natural and political rights of women. De Gouges wrote the Declaration in the prose of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, perhaps the most cited feminist writer of the time was Mary Wollstonecraft, often characterized as the first feminist philosopher. Wollstonecraft identified the education and upbringing of women as creating their limited expectations based on a self-image dictated by the male perspective. Despite her perceived inconsistencies reflective of problems that had no easy answers, Wollstonecraft believed that both genders contributed to inequality. She took womens considerable power over men for granted, and determined that both would require education to ensure the necessary changes in social attitudes, given her humble origins and scant education, her personal achievements speak to her own determination. Wollstonecraft attracted the mockery of Samuel Johnson, who described her and her ilk as Amazons of the pen, based on his relationship with Hester Thrale, he complained of womens encroachment onto a male territory of writing, and not their intelligence or education

6.
Women's history
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Womens history is the study of the role that women have played in history and the methods required to do so. The main centers of scholarship have been the United States and Britain, History was written mainly by men and about mens activities in the public sphere—war, politics, diplomacy and administration. Women are usually excluded and, when mentioned, are portrayed in sex-stereotypical roles such as wives, mothers, daughters. The study of history is value-laden in regard to what is considered historically worthy, other aspects of this area of study is the differences in womens lives caused by race, economic status, social status, and various other aspects of society. Changes came in the 19th and 20th centuries, for example, Women traditionally ran the household, bore and reared the children, were nurses, mothers, wives, neighbors, friends, and teachers. During periods of war, women were drafted into the market to undertake work that had been traditionally restricted to men. Following the wars, they invariably lost their jobs in industry and had to return to domestic, the history of Scottish women in the late 19th century and early 20th century was not fully developed as a field of study until the 1980s. In addition, most work on women before 1700 has been published since 1980, scholars are also uncovering womens voices in their letters, memoirs, poetry, and court records. In Ireland studies of women, and gender relationships more generally, had been rare before 1990, they now are commonplace with some 3000 books and articles in print. But approaches used by academics in the research of broadly based social histories has been applied to the field of womens history as well. The high level of research and publication in womens and gender history is due to the high interest within French society, in the Ancien Régime in France, few women held any formal power, some queens did, as did the heads of Catholic convents. In the Enlightenment, the writings of philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau provided a program for reform of the ancien régime. Rousseaus conception of the relations between private and public spheres is more unified than that found in modern sociology, Rousseau argued that the domestic role of women is a structural precondition for a modern society. Salic law prohibited women from rule, however, the laws for the case of a regency, the queen could ensure the passage of power from one king to another—from her late husband to her young son—while simultaneously assuring the continuity of the dynasty. Educational aspirations were on the rise and were becoming increasingly institutionalised in order to supply the church, girls were schooled too, but not to assume political responsibility. Girls were ineligible for leadership positions and were considered to have an inferior intellect to their brothers. France had many local schools where working-class children - both boys and girls - learned to read, the better to know, love. The Enlightenment challenged this model, but no alternative was presented for female education

7.
History of women in the United States
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This is a history of women in the United States since 1776, and of the Thirteen Colonies before that. The reliable sources on the topic were thin before the 1960s, since then the study of womens history has been a major scholarly and popular field, with many scholarly books and articles, museum exhibits, and courses in schools and universities. The roles of women were long ignored in textbooks and popular histories, by the 1960s, women were being presented as successful as male roles. An early feminist approach underscored their victimization and inferior status at the hands of men, in the 21st century writers have emphasized the distinctive strengths displayed inside the community of women, with special concern for minorities among women. The experiences of women during the colonial era varied somewhat from colony to colony, most of the British settlers were from England and Wales, with smaller numbers from Scotland and Ireland. Groups of families settled in New England, while individuals came to the Southern colonies, the American colonies absorbed the thousands of Dutch and Swedish settlers. After 1700 most immigrants to Colonial America arrived as indentured servants—young unmarried men and women seeking a new life in a richer environment. After the 1660s a steady flow of black slaves arrived, chiefly from the Caribbean, food supplies were much more abundant than in Europe, and there was an abundance of fertile land that needed farm families. However, the environment was hostile in the malaria-ridden South. The American-born children were immune from the forms of malaria. In New England, the Puritan settlers from England brought their religious values highly organized social structure with them. They believed a woman should be subordinate to her husband and dedicate herself to rearing God-fearing children to the best of her ability, there were ethnic differences in the treatment of women. Among Puritan settlers in New England, wives almost never worked in the fields with their husbands, in German communities in Pennsylvania, however, many women worked in fields and stables. German and Dutch immigrants granted women more control over property, which was not permitted in the local English law. Unlike English colonial wives, German and Dutch wives owned their own clothes and other items and were also given the ability to write wills disposing of the property brought into the marriage. The first English people to arrive in America were the members of the Roanoke Colony who came to North Carolina in July 1587, with 17 women,91 men, and 9 boys as the founding colonists. On August 18,1587, Virginia Dare was born, she was the first English child born in the territory of the United States and her mother was Eleanor Dare, the daughter of John White, governor of the Roanoke colony. It is not known what happened to the members of the Roanoke colony, however, it is likely that they were attacked by Native Americans, and those not killed were assimilated into the local tribes

8.
History of women in the United Kingdom
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History of women in the United Kingdom covers the social, cultural and political roles of women in Britain over the last two millennia. Medieval England was a society and the lives of women were heavily influenced by contemporary beliefs about gender. However, the position of women varied according to factors including their social class, whether they were unmarried, married, widowed or remarried, henrietta Leyser argues that women had much informal power in their homes and communities, although they were of officially subordinate to men. She identifies a deterioration the status of women in the Middle Ages, although they retained strong roles in culture, significant gender inequities persisted throughout the period, as women typically had more limited life-choices, access to employment and trade, and legal rights than men. After the Norman invasion, the position of women in society changed, the growth of governmental institutions under a succession of bishops reduced the role of queens and their households in formal government. In medieval times women had responsibility for brewing and selling the ale that men all drank, by 1600 men had taken over that role. The reasons include commercial growth, gild formation, changing technologies, new regulations, the taverns still use women to serve it, a low-status, low-skilled, and poorly remunerated tasks. While the Tudor era presents an abundance of material on the women of the royal wives. There has, however, been extensive statistical analysis of demographic and population data which includes women, England had more well-educated upper class women than was common anywhere in Europe. The Queens marital status was a political and diplomatic topic. It also entered into the popular culture, elizabeths unmarried status inspired a cult of virginity. In poetry and portraiture, she was depicted as a virgin or a goddess or both, not as a normal woman, public tributes to the Virgin by 1578 acted as a coded assertion of opposition to the queens marriage negotiations with the Duc dAlençon. In contrast to her fathers emphasis on masculinity and physical prowess, Elizabeth emphasized the theme, saying often that she was married to her kingdom. Coch argues that her figurative motherhood played a role in her complex self-representation. Although medical men did not approve, women played a significant role in the medical care of Londoners from cradle to grave during the Elizabethan era. They were hired by parishes and hospitals, as well as by private families and they played central roles in the delivery of nursing care as well as medical, pharmaceutical, and surgical services throughout the city as part of organized systems of health care. Womens medical roles continue to expand in the 17th century, especially regarding me care of paupers and they operated nursing homes for the homeless and sick poor, and also looked after abandoned and orphaned children, pregnant women, and lunatics. After 1700 the workhouse movement undermined many of these roles and the parish nurse became restricted largely to the rearing and nursing of children and infants

9.
History of Canadian women
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The history of Canadian women covers half the population, but until recent years only comprised a tiny fraction of the historiography. In the 1660s the French government sent about 850 young women called Kings Daughters and they quickly found husbands among the predominantly male settlers, as well as a new life for themselves. They came mostly from families in the Paris area, Normandy. A handful were ex-prostitutes, but only one is known to have practiced that trade in Canada, as farm wives with very good nutrition and high birth rates they played a major role in establishing family life and enabling rapid demographic growth. They had about 30% more children than comparable women who remained in France, landry says, Canadians had an exceptional diet for their time. This was due to the abundance of meat, fish, and pure water, the good food conservation conditions during the winter. Besides household duties, some women participated in the fur trade and they worked at home alongside their husbands or fathers as merchants, clerks and provisioners. Some were widowed, and took over their husbands roles, a handful were active entrepreneurs in their own right. The elite young women were trained in intelligent philanthropy and civic responsibility and they seldom connected with the reform impulses of the middle class women, and for and were paternalistic in their views of the needs of working-class women. Outside the home, Canadian women had few domains which they controlled, an important exception came with Roman Catholic nuns, especially in Québec. Stimulated by the influence in France of The popular religiosity of the Counter Reformation, in the next three centuries women opened dozens of independent religious orders, funded in part by dowries provided by the parents of young nuns. The orders specialized in works, including hospitals, orphanages, homes for unwed mothers. In the first half of the century, about 2-3% of Québecs young women became nuns, there were 6600 in 1901. In Québec in 1917,32 different teaching orders operated 586 boarding schools for girls, at that time there was no public education for girls in Québec beyond elementary school. Hospitals were another specially, the first of which was founded in 1701, in 1936, the nuns of Québec operated 150 institutions, with 30,000 beds to care for the long-term sick, the homeless, and orphans. On a smaller scale, Catholic orders of nuns operated similar institutions in other provinces, the Quiet Revolution of the 1960s combined declericalization with the dramatic reforms of Vatican II. There was a change in the role of nuns. Many left the convent while very few young women entered, the Provincial government took over the nuns traditional role as provider of many of Quebecs educational and social services

10.
Timeline of women's suffrage
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Womens suffrage – the right of women to vote – has been achieved at various times in countries throughout the world. In many nations, womens suffrage was granted before universal suffrage, some countries granted it to both sexes at the same time. This timeline lists years when womens suffrage was enacted, some countries are listed more than once as the right was extended to more women according to age, land ownership, etc. In many cases, the first voting took place in a subsequent year, in Sweden, conditional womens suffrage was granted during the age of liberty between 1718 and 1772. It was the country in the world and the first in Europe to give women the right to vote. The worlds first female members of parliament were elected in Finland the following year, in Europe, the last jurisdiction to grant women the right to vote was the Swiss canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden, in 1991. Women in Switzerland obtained the right to vote at federal level in 1971, in Saudi Arabia women were first allowed to vote in December 2015 in the municipal elections. For other womens rights, see Timeline of womens legal rights, the Supreme Court annulled the provision for women. Norfolk Island Australian colony of South Australia, limited to property-owning white women for local elections, Sweden, limited to local elections with votes graded after taxation, universal franchise achieved in 1919, which went into effect at the 1921 elections. The Grand Duchy of Finland, limited to taxpaying women in the countryside for municipal elections, Australian colony of Victoria, women were unintentionally enfranchised by the Electoral Act, and proceeded to vote in the following years elections. The Act was amended in 1865 to correct the error, Kingdom of Bohemia, limited to taxpaying women and women in learned professions who were allowed to vote by proxy and made eligible for election to the legislative body in 1864. United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, limited to women ratepayers for local elections under the Municipal Franchise Act. United States-incorporated Territory of Wyoming, full suffrage for women, united States-incorporated Utah Territory, repealed by the Edmunds-Tucker Act in 1887. May 10,1872, New York City, Equal Rights Party nominates Victoria C, woodhull as their candidate for US-President. United States - Proposed Constitutional Amendment to extend suffrage and the right to office to women. The municipality of Franceville in the New Hebrides New Zealand, colorado Australian colony of South Australia, universal suffrage, extending the franchise to all women, the first colony in Australia to do so. In 1895, South Australian women became the first in the world to be allowed to stand for election, united Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Local Government Act confirms single women’s right to vote in local elections and extends this franchise to some married women. By 1900, over 1 million women were registered for local government elections in England, idaho Australian colony of Western Australia South Australia Western Australia Australia New South Wales Tasmania Australia Latvia Queensland Grand Duchy of Finland

11.
Timeline of women's rights (other than voting)
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Timeline of womens legal rights represents formal changes and reforms regarding womens rights. That includes actual law reforms as well as other formal changes, the right to vote is exempted from the timeline, for that right, see Timeline of womens suffrage. The timeline excludes ideological changes and events within feminism and antifeminism, for that, the Palatinate was the first German state to abolish couverture, but it was briefly re-instated by Karl III Philipp, Johann Wilhelms successor. Dorothea protested from exile in Amsterdam and she published her memoirs, A Life for Reform, which were highly critical of Karl III Philipps government. To avoid a scandal, Karl III Philipp yielded to Dorotheas demands,1718 Russia, Gender segregation is banned. Sweden, Female taxpaying members of the guilds are allowed to stand for election during the age of liberty. United States, Province of Pennsylvania - Married women allowed to own,1722 Russia, Ban against forced marriages. Sweden, Unmarried women, normally under the guardianship of their closest male relative, are granted the right to be declared of legal majority by dispensation from the monarch,1741 Sweden, The requirement of guild membership for innkeepers is dropped, effectively opening the profession to women. 1753 Russia, Married women granted separate economy,1754 Germany, Dorothea Erxleben the first woman doctor. 1772 Sweden, The permit to engage in Tobacco trade is foremost to be granted to women in need to support themselves,1776 France, Female tailors are allowed into the guild of tailors. 1779 Spain, The guild restrictions which prevented females from holding certain professions are abolished,1784 Spain, Women are by royal decree allowed to accept any profession compatible with their sex, dignity and strength. 1792 France, Divorce is legalized for both sexes,1798 Sweden, Married business women are given legal majority and juridical responsibility within the affairs of their business enterprise, despite being otherwise under guardianship of their spouse. 1804 Sweden, Women are granted the permit to manufacture and sell candles,1810 Sweden, The right of an unmarried woman to be declared of legal majority by royal dispensation are officially confirmed by parliament. 1811 Austria, Married women are granted separate economy and the right to choose profession, Sweden, Married businesswomen are granted the right to make decisions about their own affairs without their husbands consent. 1817 England, Public whipping of women abolished,1821 United States, Maine, Married women allowed to own and manage property in their own name during the incapacity of their spouse. 1823 Argentina, The charitable Beneficial Society is charged by the government to establish,1829 India, The Bengal Sati Regulation,1829 bans the practice of Sati in British Bengal. Sweden, Midwives are allowed to use instruments, which are unique in Europe at the time. 1835 United States, Arkansas, Married women allowed to own property in their own name, United States, Massachusetts, Married women allowed to own and manage property in their own name during the incapacity of their spouse

12.
Women's suffrage
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Womens suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Limited voting rights were gained by women in Finland, Iceland, Sweden and some Australian colonies, National and international organizations formed to coordinate efforts to gain voting rights, especially the International Woman Suffrage Alliance, and also worked for equal civil rights for women. In 1881, the Isle of Man gave women who owned property the right to vote, in 1893, the British colony of New Zealand, granted women the right to vote. The colony of South Australia, did the same in 1894 and women were able to vote in the next election, South Australia also permitted women to stand for election alongside men. In 1899 Western Australia enacted full womens suffrage, enabling women to vote in the referendum of 31 July 1900. In 1902 women in the four colonies also acquired the right to vote. Discriminatory restrictions against Aboriginal people, including women, voting in elections, were not completely removed until 1962. Norway followed, granting full womens suffrage in 1913, most independent countries enacted womens suffrage in the interwar era, including Canada in 1917, Britain in 1918 and the United States in 1920. If women could work in factories, it seemed both ungrateful and illogical to deny them a place in the polling booth. But the vote was more than simply a reward for war work. Late adopters in Europe included Spain in 1931, France in 1944, Italy in 1946, Greece in 1952, Switzerland in 1971, the United States gave women equal voting rights in all states with the Nineteenth Amendment ratified in 1920. Canada and a few Latin American nations passed womens suffrage before World War II while the vast majority of Latin American nations established womens suffrage in the 1940s, the last Latin American country to give women the right to vote was Paraguay in 1961. In December 2015, women were first allowed to vote in Saudi Arabia, extended political campaigns by women and their supporters have generally been necessary to gain legislation or constitutional amendments for womens suffrage. In many countries, limited suffrage for women was granted before universal suffrage for men, for instance, in ancient Athens, often cited as the birthplace of democracy, only adult, male citizens who owned land were permitted to vote. Through subsequent centuries, Europe was generally ruled by monarchs, though forms of parliament arose at different times. Their Protestant successors enjoyed the same privilege almost into modern times and they make decisions there like the men, and it is they who even delegated the first ambassadors to discuss peace. The Iroquois, like many First Nations peoples in North America, had a kinship system. Property and descent were passed through the female line, Women elders voted on hereditary male chiefs and could depose them

13.
Suffrage in Australia
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Suffrage in Australia refers to the right to vote for people living in Australia, including all its six component states and territories, as well as local councils. The colonies of Australia began to grant universal male suffrage during the 1850s, today, the right to vote at federal, state and local levels of government is enjoyed by all citizens of Australia over the age of 18 years. Upon first white settlement in New South Wales in 1788, the appointed Governors had autocratic powers within the colony, a legislative body, the New South Wales Legislative Council, was created in 1825, which was an appointed body whose function was to advise the Governor. On 24 August 1824,5 members were appointed to the Council, which increased to 7 members in 1825, and between 10 and 15 in 1829. Also in 1829, British sovereignty was extended to cover the whole of Australia, the first parliamentary elections in Australia took place in 1843 for the New South Wales Legislative Council under the New South Wales Constitution Act 1842. The Council had 36 members, of which 12 were appointed by the Governor, the right to vote was limited to men with a freehold valued at £200 or a householder paying rent of £20 per year, both very large sums at the time. In the 1850s, limited self-government was granted to South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and Tasmania and this included indigenous people but they were not encouraged to enroll. Queensland gained self-government in 1859 and Western Australia in 1890, an innovative secret ballot was introduced in Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia. On 22 May 1856, the newly constituted New South Wales Parliament opened, the right to vote was extended to all adult males in 1858. In 1901, the six Australian colonies united to form the federal Commonwealth of Australia, only in South Australia and Western Australia did women have a vote. Tasmania retained a small property qualification for voting, but in the states all male British subjects over 21 could vote. Only in South Australia and Tasmania were indigenous Australians even theoretically entitled to vote, a few may have done so in South Australia. Western Australia and Queensland specifically barred indigenous people from voting, in 1902, the Commonwealth Parliament passed the Commonwealth Franchise Act 1902, which established a uniform franchise law for the federal Parliament. Besides granting Australian women the right to vote at a national level and this meant that Australia was the second country, after New Zealand, to grant womens suffrage at a national level, and the first country to allow women to stand for Parliament. By this provision, Indian people, for example, were disqualified to vote, the only exception was in relation to those who were entitled under Section 41 of the Australian Constitution to a vote. Section 41 states that any individual who has gained a right to vote at a state level, the then Solicitor-General, Robert Garran, interpreted the provision to mean that Commonwealth voting rights were granted by section 41 only to people who were already State voters in 1902. Also, those otherwise entitled voters who are subject to a crime carries a penalty of over one year in prison are disqualified to vote. There was also no representation for any of the territories of Australia, in the meantime, State franchise laws continued in force until each one chose to amend them

14.
Women's suffrage in Canada
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Womens suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Limited voting rights were gained by women in Finland, Iceland, Sweden and some Australian colonies, National and international organizations formed to coordinate efforts to gain voting rights, especially the International Woman Suffrage Alliance, and also worked for equal civil rights for women. In 1881, the Isle of Man gave women who owned property the right to vote, in 1893, the British colony of New Zealand, granted women the right to vote. The colony of South Australia, did the same in 1894 and women were able to vote in the next election, South Australia also permitted women to stand for election alongside men. In 1899 Western Australia enacted full womens suffrage, enabling women to vote in the referendum of 31 July 1900. In 1902 women in the four colonies also acquired the right to vote. Discriminatory restrictions against Aboriginal people, including women, voting in elections, were not completely removed until 1962. Norway followed, granting full womens suffrage in 1913, most independent countries enacted womens suffrage in the interwar era, including Canada in 1917, Britain in 1918 and the United States in 1920. If women could work in factories, it seemed both ungrateful and illogical to deny them a place in the polling booth. But the vote was more than simply a reward for war work. Late adopters in Europe included Spain in 1931, France in 1944, Italy in 1946, Greece in 1952, Switzerland in 1971, the United States gave women equal voting rights in all states with the Nineteenth Amendment ratified in 1920. Canada and a few Latin American nations passed womens suffrage before World War II while the vast majority of Latin American nations established womens suffrage in the 1940s, the last Latin American country to give women the right to vote was Paraguay in 1961. In December 2015, women were first allowed to vote in Saudi Arabia, extended political campaigns by women and their supporters have generally been necessary to gain legislation or constitutional amendments for womens suffrage. In many countries, limited suffrage for women was granted before universal suffrage for men, for instance, in ancient Athens, often cited as the birthplace of democracy, only adult, male citizens who owned land were permitted to vote. Through subsequent centuries, Europe was generally ruled by monarchs, though forms of parliament arose at different times. Their Protestant successors enjoyed the same privilege almost into modern times and they make decisions there like the men, and it is they who even delegated the first ambassadors to discuss peace. The Iroquois, like many First Nations peoples in North America, had a kinship system. Property and descent were passed through the female line, Women elders voted on hereditary male chiefs and could depose them

15.
Women's suffrage in Japan
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Although womens advocacy has been present in Japan since the 19th century, womens suffrage in Japan blossomed during the turbulent, 1920s, inter-war period. Whilst experiencing marked cultural upheaval, womens suffrage became a feature of the society of Japan. After the Meiji Restoration in 1868, the concept of human rights, during the late 19th century, the first proponents for womens rights advocated, not for political inclusion or voting rights, but for reforms in the patriarchal society oppressing women. Of prime importance to the early feminist movement was the call for womens education, policymakers believed that this was imperative to the preservation of the state, as it would prepare girls to become effective wives and mothers capable of producing diligent, patriotic sons. The end of the 19th century also saw the fight for protection of women from patriarchal cultural practices, practices such as prostitution and polygamy had long subjected them to abuse, in particular sexually transmitted diseases. Feminists began to both the exclusive provision of civil rights for men and the exclusion of women from politics. Women in Japan were prohibited, by law, from joining political parties, expressing political views, however, the ban on womens involvement in political parties was not altered, as many members of the Diet felt that it was selfish for women to forsake their families for government. Feminists were still determined to fight for political equality, the Womens Suffrage League was founded in 1924, the same year that the Japanese government enacted the Mens Suffrage Law, without extending the vote to women. After women were granted the right to participate in political assemblies, alumni groups, Christian missionary groups, and other womens auxiliary groups began to sprout during the inter-war period. After a massive earthquake struck Tokyo in 1923, representatives from 43 of these organizations joined forces to become the Tokyo Federation of Womens Organizations. The federation was designed to serve as relief to aid those affected by the earthquake, however. To efficiently address the issues affecting women, the Tokyo Federation of Womens Organizations divided into five groups, society, government, education, labor. The League, as well as other groups, continued to fight for social and political inclusion. Women were finally granted the right to vote in 1946, in due to pressure from the occupying forces of the United States. Shidzue Katō, As a member of the Japanese Socialist Party and she spent the majority of her life fighting for women’s reproductive and political rights. She is noted for annulling her marriage and remarrying, an act that was rare for women at the time. Fusae Ichikawa, Advocate for women’s political rights, Ichikawa concentrated most of her efforts towards gaining women the right to participate in the voting process and in political parties. With Hiratsuka Raicho, she helped establish the New Woman Association and her involvement extended to the Patriotic Press Association and the League for Women’s Suffrage

16.
Women's suffrage in New Zealand
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Womens suffrage in New Zealand was an important political issue in the late nineteenth century. In early colonial New Zealand, as in other European societies, the Electoral Bill granting women the franchise was given Royal Assent by Governor Lord Glasgow on 19 September 1893. Women voted for the first time in the held on 28 November 1893. In 1893, Elizabeth Yates also became Mayor of Onehunga, the first time such a post had been held by a woman anywhere in the British Empire. Womens suffrage was granted after two decades of campaigning throughout New Zealand, by women who included Kate Sheppard and Mary Ann Müller. The New Zealand branch of the Womens Christian Temperance Union led by Anne Ward was particularly instrumental in the campaign, opponents argued instead that politics was outside womens natural sphere of the home and family. Suffrage advocates countered that allowing women to vote would encourage policies which protected and nurtured families, from 1887, various attempts were made to pass bills enabling female suffrage, the first of which was authored by Julius Vogel, the 8th Premier of New Zealand. Each bill came close to passing, several electoral bills that would have given adult women the right to vote were passed in the House of Representatives but defeated in the upper Legislative Council. In 1891 Walter Carncross moved an amendment that was intended to make a new bill fail in the Legislative Council. His amendment was for women to become eligible to be voted into the House of Representatives and this tactic infuriated the suffragette Catherine Fulton, who organised a protest at the 1893 election. An 1892 Electoral Bill, introduced by John Ballance, provided for the enfranchisement of all women, by 1893 there was considerable popular support for womens suffrage. The 1893 Womens Suffrage Petition was presented to Parliament and a new Electoral Bill passed through the Lower House with a large majority. During debate, there was majority support for the enfranchisement of Māori as well as Pākehā women, the inclusion of Māori women was championed by John Shera, who was married to a part-Māori. Lobbyists for the industry, concerned that women would force the prohibition of alcohol. Suffragists responded with mass rallies and telegrams to Members of Parliament and they gave their supporters in Parliament white camellias to wear in their buttonholes. The Upper House was divided on the issue, and Premier Richard Seddon hoped to stop the bill, Seddon needed one more vote to defeat the measure in the Upper House. A new Liberal Party councillor, Thomas Kelly, had decided to vote in favour of the measure, both the Liberal government and the opposition subsequently claimed credit for the enfranchisement of women and sought womens newly acquired votes on these grounds. In 1893, Elizabeth Yates became the first woman in the British Empire to become mayor, though she held the post in Onehunga, Women were not eligible to be elected to the House of Representatives until 1919, when three women, including Ellen Melville stood

17.
Women's suffrage in Sweden
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Womens suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Limited voting rights were gained by women in Finland, Iceland, Sweden and some Australian colonies, National and international organizations formed to coordinate efforts to gain voting rights, especially the International Woman Suffrage Alliance, and also worked for equal civil rights for women. In 1881, the Isle of Man gave women who owned property the right to vote, in 1893, the British colony of New Zealand, granted women the right to vote. The colony of South Australia, did the same in 1894 and women were able to vote in the next election, South Australia also permitted women to stand for election alongside men. In 1899 Western Australia enacted full womens suffrage, enabling women to vote in the referendum of 31 July 1900. In 1902 women in the four colonies also acquired the right to vote. Discriminatory restrictions against Aboriginal people, including women, voting in elections, were not completely removed until 1962. Norway followed, granting full womens suffrage in 1913, most independent countries enacted womens suffrage in the interwar era, including Canada in 1917, Britain in 1918 and the United States in 1920. If women could work in factories, it seemed both ungrateful and illogical to deny them a place in the polling booth. But the vote was more than simply a reward for war work. Late adopters in Europe included Spain in 1931, France in 1944, Italy in 1946, Greece in 1952, Switzerland in 1971, the United States gave women equal voting rights in all states with the Nineteenth Amendment ratified in 1920. Canada and a few Latin American nations passed womens suffrage before World War II while the vast majority of Latin American nations established womens suffrage in the 1940s, the last Latin American country to give women the right to vote was Paraguay in 1961. In December 2015, women were first allowed to vote in Saudi Arabia, extended political campaigns by women and their supporters have generally been necessary to gain legislation or constitutional amendments for womens suffrage. In many countries, limited suffrage for women was granted before universal suffrage for men, for instance, in ancient Athens, often cited as the birthplace of democracy, only adult, male citizens who owned land were permitted to vote. Through subsequent centuries, Europe was generally ruled by monarchs, though forms of parliament arose at different times. Their Protestant successors enjoyed the same privilege almost into modern times and they make decisions there like the men, and it is they who even delegated the first ambassadors to discuss peace. The Iroquois, like many First Nations peoples in North America, had a kinship system. Property and descent were passed through the female line, Women elders voted on hereditary male chiefs and could depose them

18.
Women's suffrage in the United Kingdom
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Womens suffrage in the United Kingdom was a movement to give women the right to vote. It finally succeeded through two laws in 1918 and 1928 and it became a national movement in the Victorian era. Women were not explicitly banned from voting in Great Britain until the 1832 Reform Act, as well as in England, womens suffrage movements in Wales and other parts of the United Kingdom gained momentum. The movements shifted sentiments in favour of woman suffrage by 1906 and it was at this point that the militant campaign began with the formation of the Womens Social and Political Union. Violence by the militant suffragettes discredited the cause in the view of many, the outbreak of the First World War in 1914 led to a suspension of all politics, including the militant suffragette campaigns. In 1918, a government passed the Representation of the People Act 1918, enfranchising all men. In 1928, the Conservative government passed the Representation of the People Act giving the vote to all women over the age of 21 on equal terms with men. Until the 1832 Great Reform Act specified male persons, a few women had been able to vote in elections through property ownership. In local government elections, single women ratepayers received the right to vote in the Municipal Franchise Act 1869 and this right was confirmed in the Local Government Act 1894 and extended to include some married women. By 1900, more than 1 million single women were registered to vote in local government elections in England, both before and after the 1832 Reform Act there were some who advocated that women should have the right to vote in parliamentary elections. After the enactment of the Reform Act enactment the MP Henry Hunt argued that any woman who was single, one such wealthy woman, Mary Smith, was used in this speech as an example. The Chartist Movement, which began in the late 1830s, has also suggested to have included supporters of female suffrage. Although there were female Chartists, they largely worked toward universal male suffrage, at this time most women did not have aspirations to gain the vote. There is a book from 1843 which clearly shows thirty womens names among those who voted. These women were playing a role in the election. On the roll, the wealthiest female elector was Grace Brown, due to the high rates that she paid, Grace Brown was entitled to four votes. Lilly Maxwell made a vote in Britain in 1867 after the Great Reform Act of 1832. Maxwell, an owner, met the property qualifications that otherwise would have made her eligible to vote had she been male

19.
Women's suffrage in the United States
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The demand for womens suffrage began to gather strength in the 1840s, emerging from the broader movement for womens rights. By the time of the first National Womens Rights Convention in 1850, however, the first national suffrage organizations were established in 1869 when two competing organizations were formed, one led by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the other by Lucy Stone, after years of rivalry, they merged in 1890 as the National American Woman Suffrage Association with Anthony as its leading force. Hoping the U. S. Supreme Court would rule that women had a right to vote, suffragists made several attempts to vote in the early 1870s. Anthony actually succeeded in voting in 1872 but was arrested for that act, after the Supreme Court ruled against them in 1875, suffragists began the decades-long campaign for an amendment to the U. S. Much of the energy, however, went toward working for suffrage on a state-by-state basis. In 1916 Alice Paul formed the National Womans Party, a militant group focused on the passage of a national suffrage amendment. Over 200 NWP supporters, the Silent Sentinels, were arrested in 1917 while picketing the White House, some of whom went on hunger strike, under the leadership of Carrie Chapman Catt, the two-million-member NAWSA also made a national suffrage amendment its top priority. After a hard-fought series of votes in the U. S. Congress and in state legislatures and it states, The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex. Lydia Taft, a widow, was allowed to vote in town meetings in Uxbridge. No other women in the era are known to have voted. The New Jersey constitution of 1776 enfranchised all adult inhabitants who owned a specified amount of property, laws enacted in 1790 and 1797 referred to voters as he or she, and women regularly voted. A law passed in 1807, however, excluded women from voting in that state, the demand for womens suffrage emerged as part of the broader movement for womens rights. In England in 1792 Mary Wollenstonecraft wrote a book called A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. In Boston in 1838 Sarah Grimké published The Equality of the Sexes and the Condition of Women, significant barriers had to be overcome, however, before a campaign for womens suffrage could develop significant strength. One barrier was strong opposition to involvement in public affairs. Opposition was especially strong against the idea of speaking to audiences of both men and women. Frances Wright, a Scottish woman, was subjected to criticism for delivering public lectures in the U. S. in 1826 and 1827

20.
Women's suffrage in states of the United States
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Womens suffrage in states of the United States refers to womens right to vote in individual states of that country. Suffrage was established on a full or partial basis by various towns, counties, states and territories during the decades of 19th century. That campaign succeeded with the ratification of Nineteenth Amendment in 1920, the demand for womens suffrage began to gather strength in the 1840s, emerging from the broader movement for womens rights. The first national organizations were established in 1869 when two competing organizations were formed, each campaigning for suffrage at both the state and national levels. The National Woman Suffrage Association, led by Susan B, Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, was especially interested in national suffrage amendment. The American Woman Suffrage Association, led by Lucy Stone, tended to work more for suffrage at the state level and they merged in 1890 as the National American Woman Suffrage Association. Prospects for a national amendment looked dim at the turn of the century, in the 1910s, however, the drive for a national amendment was revitalized, and the movement achieved a series of successes at the state level. The newly formed National Womans Party, a militant organization led by Alice Paul, the larger NAWSA, under the leadership of Carrie Chapman Catt, also made the suffrage amendment its top priority. In September 1918, President Wilson spoke before the Senate, asking for the amendment to be approved. The amendment was approved by Congress in 1919 and by the number of states a year later. On the whole, western states and territories were more favorable to womens suffrage than eastern ones, Susan Anthony said that western men were more chivalrous than their eastern brethren. In 1871 Anthony and Stanton toured several states, with special attention to the territories of Wyoming. Their suffragist speeches were often ridiculed or denounced by the opinion makers - the politicians, ministers, Anthony returned to the West in 1877,1895, and 1896. By the last trip, at age 76, Anthonys views had gained popularity, activists concentrated on the single issue of suffrage and went directly to the opinion makers to educate them and to persuade them to support the goal of suffrage. By 1920 when women got the vote nationwide, Wyoming women had already been voting for half a century, in March 1867, the Kansas legislature decided to include two suffrage referenda in that years November election. If approved by the voters, one would enfranchise African Americans, the proposal for the referendum on womens suffrage, the first in the U. S. originated with state senator Sam Wood, leader of a rebel faction of the state Republican Party. Wood had moved to Kansas to oppose the extension of slavery into that state, the American Equal Rights Association actively supported both referenda. The AERA, which advocated suffrage for women and blacks, had been formed in 1866 by abolitionists and womens rights activists

21.
First-wave feminism
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First-wave feminism was a period of feminist activity and thought, that occurred within the time period of the 19th and early 20th century throughout the world. It focused on issues, primarily on gaining womens suffrage. Feminism has its source in the 18th century, specifically in the Enlightenment, in this cultural and philosophical movement there was a controversy over equality and gender differences. At the time appeared a new critical discourse that used the universal categories of political philosophy. Enlightenment movement therefore was not feminist at its roots, the political origins of feminism came from The French Revolution. Rousseaus political theory designed the exclusion of women from the field of property, so in the French Revolution the voice of women began to express themselves collectively. The term first-wave was coined in March 1968 by Martha Lear writing in The New York Times Magazine, at that time, the womens movement was focused on de facto inequalities, which it wished to distinguish from the objectives of the earlier feminists. According to Miriam Schneir, Simone de Beauvoir wrote that the first woman to take up her pen in defense of her sex was Christine de Pizan in the 15th century, heinrich Cornelius Agrippa and Modesta di Pozzo di Forzi worked in the 16th century. Marie Le Jars de Gournay, Anne Bradstreet and François Poullain de la Barre wrote in the 17th, Mary Wollstonecrafts most famous work, which is called Vindication, was created in 1792. Its previous feminist work was Poullain de la Barres Equality of sexes and this period was affected by Rousseaus philosophy, the Illustration. The father of the Illustration defined an ideal democratic society that was based on the equality of men, Mary Wollstonecraft based her work on the ideas of Rousseau. Although at first it seems to be contradictory, Wollstonecrafts idea was to expand Rousseaus democratic society and her later unfinished novel, Maria, or the Wrongs of Woman, earned her considerable criticism as she discussed womens sexual desires. She died young, and her widower, the philosopher William Godwin, quickly wrote a memoir of her that, contrary to his intentions, early Feminism was directly correlated with the abolitionist movements and as a result many famous feminists and activists began to have their voices heard. Some of these early activists include, Sojourner Truth, Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell, Jane Addams, and Dorothy Day. The first wave of feminism was led by white women in the middle class. The term Feminism was created like a political illustrated ideology at that period, Feminism emerged by the speech about the reform and correction of democracy based on equalitarian conditions. With Wollstonecrafts work, the illustrated feminist polemic was displayed, and as a result, Wollstonecraft is regarded as the grandmother of British feminism and her ideas shaped the thinking of the suffragettes, who campaigned for the womens vote. After generations of work, this was eventually achieved, in 1882, Rose Scott, a womens rights activist, began to hold a weekly salon meetings in her Sydney home, left to her by her late mother

22.
Second-wave feminism
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Second-wave feminism is a period of feminist activity and thought that first began in the early 1960s in the United States, and eventually spread throughout the Western world and beyond. In the United States the movement lasted through the early 1980s and it later became a worldwide movement that was strong in Europe and parts of Asia, such as Turkey and Israel, where it began in the 1980s, and it began at other times in other countries. Second-wave feminism also drew attention to violence and marital rape issues, establishment of rape crisis and battered womens shelters. This life was illustrated by the media of the time, for example television shows such as Father Knows Best. Before the second there were some important events which laid the groundwork for it. French writer Simone de Beauvoir had in the 1940s examined the notion of women being perceived as other in the patriarchal society and this book was translated from French to English and published in America in 1953. In 1960 the Food and Drug Administration approved the combined oral contraceptive pill and this made it easier for women to have careers without having to leave due to unexpectedly becoming pregnant. The administration of President Kennedy made womens rights a key issue of the New Frontier, There were also notable actions by women in wider society, presaging their wider engagement in politics which would come with the second wave. In 1961,50,000 women in 60 cities, mobilized by Women Strike for Peace, protested above ground testing of nuclear bombs, in 1963 Betty Friedan, influenced by The Second Sex, wrote the bestselling book The Feminine Mystique. Discussing primarily white women, she objected to how women were depicted in the mainstream media. She had helped conduct an important survey using her old classmates from Smith College. This survey revealed that the women who played a role at home, the women who stayed home showed feelings of agitation and sadness. She concluded that many of these women had emerged themselves in the idea that they should not have any ambitions outside their home. Friedan described this as The Problem That Has No Name, the perfect nuclear family image depicted and strongly marketed at the time, she wrote, did not reflect happiness and was rather degrading for women. This book is credited with having begun second-wave feminism. Though it is accepted that the movement lasted from the 1960s into the early 1980s. Friedan was referencing a movement as early as 1964, the movement grew with legal victories such as the Equal Pay Act of 1963, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Griswold v. Connecticut Supreme Court ruling of 1965. In 1966 Friedan joined other women and men to found the National Organization for Women, Friedan stepped down as president in 1969

23.
Third-wave feminism
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Third-wave feminism encompasses several diverse strains of feminist activity and study. Though exact boundaries are a subject of debate, it is marked as beginning in the early 1990s. It is a movement in the sense that its purpose includes redefining what it is to be a feminist. The third wave arose partially as a response to the failures of second-wave feminism. It attempts to expand feminism to include women with a set of identities recognising that women are of many colors, ethnicities, nationalities, religions. Thus it can be seen as a reaction to or continuation of second-wave feminism, the related concept of intersectionality was introduced in 1989, a few years before the third wave began, but it was during this wave that the concept was embraced. Rebecca Walker coined the term Third Wave to highlight the focus on queer, Walker sought to establish that third-wave feminism was not just a reaction, but a movement in itself, because womens issues were far from over. Third-wave feminists have broadened their goals, focusing on ideas like queer theory, unlike the determined position of second-wave feminists about women in pornography, sex work, and prostitution, third-wave feminists were rather ambiguous and divided about these themes. While some thought these sexual acts were degrading and oppressing women, there was a divide in opinion but third-wave feminism embraced differences, personal narratives, and individualism, instead of all having one agenda. The focus was less on political changes and more on individualistic identity, the shift from second wave feminism came about with many of the legal and institutional rights that were extended to women. In addition to these gains, third-wave feminists believed there needed to be further changes in stereotypes, media portrayals. The purpose was to celebrate diverse identities and abandon the victim feminism ideology, third-wave ideology focuses on a more post-structuralist interpretation of gender and sexuality. In Deconstructing Equality-versus-Difference, Or, the Uses of Poststructuralist Theory for Feminism, in the The local is global, third wave feminism, peace, and social justice, the authors explain third wave feminism offers five primary focuses, Responsible choice grounded in dialogue. Respect and appreciation for experiences and dynamic knowledge, use of personal narratives in both theorizing and political activism. Political activism as local, with connections and consequences. Riot grrrl was thought by some to be the beginning of third wave feminism and this was a movement based on hard core punk rock that talked about issues like rape, patriarchy, sexuality, women empowerment, and other feminist issues. They responded to the Anita Hill and Clarence Thomas court case as well, third-wave feminists such as Elle Green often focus on micro-politics, and challenge the second waves paradigm as to what is, or is not, good for women. Womens studies, and redsuited congresswomen – perhaps means that women today have really reaped what feminism has sown

24.
Fourth-wave feminism
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The fourth wave of feminism refers to various, conflicting assessments of recent developments within the feminist movement. The definition and boundaries of the term are currently much contested, in 2005, Pythia Peay first argued for the existence of a fourth wave of feminism, combining justice with religious spirituality. However, this component is not present in most other definitions for the term. Jennifer Baumgardner identifies fourth-wave feminism as starting in 2008 and continuing into the present day, researcher Diana Diamond defines fourth-wave feminism as a movement that combines politics, psychology, and spirituality in an overarching vision of change. Kira Cochrane, author of All the Rebel Women, The Rise of the Fourth Wave of Feminism, I know people who are considered third-wave feminists who are 20 years older than me. After the interviewers suggestion that perhaps we had moved forward into a wave of feminism. According to NOW Toronto, the internet has created a culture, in which sexism or misogyny can be called out. This online feminism aspect of the wave has impacted how companies market to women so that they are not called out for sexism in their marketing strategies. The addition of advanced technology along with broader ideas of equal rights set the newest wave apart from the former. In 2014, Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett and Holly Baxter released their book The Vagenda, the authors consider themselves fourth-wave feminists. Like their website The Vagenda, their aims to flag. In November 2015, a group of working with Clio Visualizing History launched Click. This digital history exhibit examines the history of American feminism from the era of World War Two to the present, the exhibit has three major sections, Politics and Social Movements, Body and Health, and Workplace and Family. There are also interactive timelines linking to a vast array of sources documenting the history of American feminism, the fourth wave of feminism is often said to have started in 2008, and many social networks were finding their footing not long beforehand. Twitter, a network that is most popular with the 18-29 age group, was created in 2006. When Wendy Davis staged her 13-hour filibuster to prevent a bill from passing. But for those who couldnt, they were able to show their solidarity through using the hashtag #StandWithWendy. Similarly, girls of all ages protested the often sexist questions directed at female celebrities by tweeting the hashtag #askhermore, Social media like Twitter allows women to spread awareness of issues much farther than was ever possible in the past

25.
Feminist movements and ideologies
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A variety of movements of feminist ideology have developed over the years. They vary in goals, strategies, and affiliations and they often overlap, and some feminists identify themselves with several branches of feminist thought. Mainstream feminism is an umbrella term for feminist movements which do not fall into either the socialist or radical feminist camps. The mainstream feminist movement traditionally focused on political and legal reform, and has its roots in first-wave feminism, mainstream feminism was historically also called liberal feminism or bourgeois feminism. Mainstream feminism overlaps with modern liberal feminism, although feminism is a somewhat broader term. Mainstream feminists are sometimes criticized by feminists for being part of a system of patriarchy. Liberal feminism asserts the equality of men and women political and legal reform. Liberal feminists sought to abolish political, legal and other forms of discrimination of women to allow them the same opportunities as men, liberal feminists sought to alter the structure of society to ensure the equal treatment of women. More recently, liberal feminism has additionally taken on a narrow meaning which emphasizes womens ability to show and maintain their equality through their own actions. In this sense, liberal feminism uses the interactions between men and women as the place from which to transform society. It generally views patriarchy as a manifestation of involuntary hierarchy, anarcha-feminists believe that the struggle against patriarchy is an essential part of class struggle and of the anarchist struggle against the state. In essence, the philosophy sees anarchist struggle as a component of feminist struggle. Susan Brown puts it, as anarchism is a philosophy that opposes all relationships of power. Important historic anarcha-feminists include Emma Goldman, Federica Montseny, Voltairine de Cleyre, Maria Lacerda de Moura, in the Spanish Civil War, an anarcha-feminist group, Mujeres Libres, linked to the Federación Anarquista Ibérica, organized to defend both anarchist and feminist ideas. Contemporary anarcha-feminist writers/theorists include Germaine Greer, L, Susan Brown, and the eco-feminist Starhawk. Contemporary anarcha-feminist groups include Bolivias Mujeres Creando, Radical Cheerleaders, the Spanish anarcha-feminist squat La Eskalera Karakola, socialist feminism connects the oppression of women to Marxist ideas about exploitation, oppression and labor. Socialist feminists think unequal standing in both the workplace and the domestic sphere holds women down, socialist feminists see prostitution, domestic work, childcare, and marriage as ways in which women are exploited by a patriarchal system that devalues women and the substantial work they do. Socialist feminists focus their energies on far-reaching change that affects society as a whole, rather than on an individual basis

26.
Anarcha-feminism
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Anarcha-feminism, also called anarchist feminism and anarcho-feminism, combines anarchism with feminism. It generally views patriarchy as a manifestation of involuntary coercive hierarchy, anarcha-feminists believe that the struggle against patriarchy is an essential part of class conflict and the anarchist struggle against the state and capitalism. In essence, the philosophy sees anarchist struggle as a component of feminist struggle. Susan Brown claims that, as anarchism is a philosophy that opposes all relationships of power. Contrary to popular belief and contemporary association with radical feminism, anarcha-feminism is not an inherently militant party and it is described to be an anti-authoritarian, anti-capitalist, anti-oppressive philosophy, with the goal of creating an equal ground between males and females. The term anarcha-feminism suggests the social freedom and liberty of women, mikhail Bakunin opposed patriarchy and the way the law to the absolute domination of the man. He argued that qual rights must belong to men and women so that women could become independent, Bakunin foresaw the end of the authoritarian juridical family and the full sexual freedom of women. Proudhon, on the hand, viewed the family as the most basic unit of society and of his morality. Since the 1860s, anarchisms radical critique of capitalism and the state has been combined with a critique of patriarchy, anarcha-feminists thus start from the precept that modern society is dominated by men. Authoritarian traits and values—domination, exploitation, aggression, competition, etc. —are integral to hierarchical civilizations and are seen as masculine, in contrast, non-authoritarian traits and values—cooperation, sharing, compassion, sensitivity—are regarded as feminine, and devalued. Anarcha-feminists have thus espoused creation of a non-authoritarian, anarchist society and they refer to the creation of a society, based on cooperation, sharing, mutual aid, etc. as the feminization of society. Anarcha-feminism began with late 19th and early 20th century authors and theorists such as anarchist feminists Emma Goldman, Voltairine de Cleyre, in the Spanish Civil War, an anarcha-feminist group, Mujeres Libres, linked to the Federación Anarquista Ibérica, organized to defend both anarchist and feminist ideas. According to this Nietzschean concept of Federica Montsenys, women could realize through art, in China, the anarcho-feminist He Zhen argued that without womens liberation, society could not be liberated. A similar paper with the name was reportedly published later in Montevideo. La Voz de la Mujer described itself as “dedicated to the advancement of Communist Anarchism. ”Its central theme was the multiple natures of women’s oppression. An editorial asserted, “We believe that in society, nothing. Its beliefs can be seen from its attack on marriage and upon male power over women and its contributors, like anarchist feminists elsewhere, developed a concept of oppression that focused on gender. They saw marriage as an institution which restricted women’s freedom

27.
Atheist feminism
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Atheist feminism is a movement that advocates feminism within atheism. Atheist feminists also oppose religion as a source of female oppression and inequality, believing that the majority of the religions are sexist. The first known feminist who was also an atheist was Ernestine Rose and her open confession of disbelief in Judaism when she was a teenager brought her into conflict with her father and an unpleasant relationship developed. In order to force her into the obligations of the Jewish faith, her father, without her consent, betrothed her to a friend, instead of arguing her case in a Jewish court, she went to a secular court, pleaded her own case, and won. She lectured in England and America and was described by Samuel P, putnam 3 as one of the best lecturers of her time. He wrote that no man could meet her in debate. This was the first petition drive done by a woman in New York, Ernestine continued to increase both the number of the petitions and the names until such rights were finally won in 1848, with the passing of the Married Womens Property Act. Others who participated in the work for the bill included Susan B, anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott and Frances Wright, who were all anti-religious. Ernestine later joined a group of freethinkers who had organized a Society for Moral Philanthropists, in 1845 she was in attendance at the first national convention of infidels. Ernestine Rose also introduced the agitation on the subject of womens suffrage in Michigan in 1846 and she attended the Womens Rights Convention in the Tabernacle, New York City, on September 10,1853, and spoke at the Hartford Bible Convention in 1854. It was in March of that year, also, that she took off with Susan B, anthony on a speaking tour to Washington, D. C. Anthony arranged the meetings and Ernestine Rose did all of the speaking, after this successful tour, anthony embarked on her own first lecture tour. Later, in October 1854, Ernestine Rose was elected president of the National Womens Rights Convention at Philadelphia, anthony supported her in this fight, declaring that every religion — and none — should have an equal right on the platform. When he asks for colleges to educate ministers, tell him you must educate woman and she appeared again in Albany, New York, for the State Womens Rights Convention in early February 1861, the last one to be held until the end of the Civil War. On May 14,1863, she shared the podium with Elizabeth Cady Stanton and she was in attendance at the American Equal Rights Association meeting in which there was a schism and on May 15,1869, she joined with Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Lucy Stone to form a new organization, the National Woman Suffrage Association and she died at Brighton, England, on August 4,1892, at age eighty-two. The most prominent other people to advocate for feminism as well as atheism in the 1800s were Elizabeth Cady Stanton. In 1885 Elizabeth wrote an essay entitled Has Christianity Benefited Woman, arguing that it had in fact hurt womens rights, and stating, All religions thus far have taught the headship and superiority of man, the inferiority and subordination of woman

28.
Ecofeminism
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Ecofeminism is a term that links feminism with ecology. Its advocates say that society has led to a harmful split between nature and culture. Early ecofeminists propagated that the split can only be healed by the feminine instinct for nurture, Ecofeminism describes movements and philosophies that link feminism with ecology. This movement seeks to eradicate all forms of injustice, not just injustice against women. The term is believed to have coined by the French writer Françoise dEaubonne in her book Le Féminisme ou la Mort. All of these groups have been subject to oppression, domination, exploitation. Ecofeminists believe that these connections are illustrated through traditionally feminine values such as reciprocity, nurturing and cooperation, the marginalization is evident in the gendered language used to describe nature and the animalized language used to describe women. Some discourses link women specifically to the environment because of their social role as a nurturer and caregiver. As there are different types of feminism and different beliefs held by feminists. In the 1993 essay entitled Ecofeminism, Toward Global Justice and Planetary Health authors Greta Gaard, the essay provides a wealth of data and statistics in addition to laying out the theoretical aspects of the ecofeminist critique. They hold that these four factors have brought us to what ecofeminists see as a separation between nature and culture that is the source of our planetary ills. Vandana Shiva says that women have a connection to the environment through their daily interactions. She says that women in subsistence economies who produce wealth in partnership with nature, have been experts in their own right of holistic, Shiva blames this failure on the Wests patriarchy, and the patriarchal idea of what development is. According to Shiva, patriarchy has labeled women, nature, Ecofeminism was coined as a term in the 1970s. Women participated in the movements, specifically preservation and conservation. Beginning in the late 20th century, women worked in efforts to protect wildlife, food, air and these efforts depended largely on new developments in the environmental movement from influential writers, such as Henry David Thoreau, Aldo Leopold, John Muir, and Rachel Carson. Fundamental examples of efforts in the 20th century are the books Silent Spring by Rachel Carson. These works truly opened Americans eyes to the harm they were perpetuating

History of German women covers gender roles, personalities and movements from medieval times to the present in …

Image: Richter "Mein Nest" 1869

Opening of exposition Die Frau, Frauenleben und -wirken in Familie, Haus und Beruf (Women: the life of women, their role in the family, at home and at work) at the Kaiserdamm, March 18, 1933, with Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels

Portrait of an unknown New Zealand suffragette, Charles Hemus Studio Auckland, c. 1880. The sitter wears a white camellia and has cut off her hair, both symbolic of support for advancing women's rights.